(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for and method of picking-up a center hub used with a flexible disk, at a step of fixing the center hub and flexible disk to each other, or at a similar step in the assembly of the flexible disk cartridge manufacturing process.
(2) Description of the Related Art
The flexible disk used in a 3.5-inch (90-mm) flexible disk cartridge and the like has a center hub fixed at the center thereof as a driving disk (see Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 4-45382). This center hub is composed of a central and flange portions stepped with respect to each other, and the central portion has a central hole and drive hole formed therein.
At the center hub/adhesive ring attaching step in the flexible disk cartridge manufacturing process, an adhesive ring is attached to the flange portion of the center hub, and at the center hub/disk attaching step, a flexible disk is attached to the center hub by the adhesive ring.
In such a manufacturing process, the center hub must be picked-up and brought to predetermined positions (namely, to an adhesive ring on a center hub/adhesive ring attaching rotor and to a flexible disk on a center hub/disk attaching rotor), and for this purpose, a picking-up apparatus that uses a vacuum to pick-up the center hub is used.
The conventional center hub picking apparatus, however, picks-up the center hub by a vacuum suction only, and has no centering function, and therefore, the center hub cannot be attached to the adhesive ring, and therefore, the center hub cannot be attached to the adhesive ring, and then to the flexible disk, with a high precision.